The Secrets of Confessions ✔️

Chapter 16: The True Persona

I give him a slight smile, as he just stands there, in slight disbelief. As he's standing there, his eyes widen suddenly. "Oh, where are my manners? Come inside. It's freezing," he offers, moving out of the way so that I can enter. I walk inside, and am immediately surprised by how well kept his apartment is.

The walls are painted with tan and white colors, adding a soothing aspect to the apartment. There's a kitchen on the right side, with granite countertops that look like someone polished them for an hour. The whole apartment is lit with a pale yellow light, completing the comforting aesthetic like a bow on the gift. Sure, it's not the biggest apartment in the world, but there's a nice amount of furniture, the color scheme is nice, and it's clean. I'm so glad it's clean, because I don't like things being dirty or messy.

He closes the door behind me, and I hear him walk a little bit closer to me. The anxiety inside me boils to an unspeakable point. I can't help but feel a little bit scared because this is the same man who was sent to jail for 16 years for killing my mom. This is a huge chance I'm taking. I don't even hesitate, before I spin around to ask him an insane question. "You're not going to kill me, right?" I ask, holding my hands up in a defensive position.

Arjun's eyes widen, and he shakes his head. "What? No! You really think I would call you over to kill you? One, that'll make too much of a mess, and I'm way too tired to clean up blood, skin, hair, and whatever other bodily tissues or liquids a human has today. Two, I'm not that heartless. I actually want to talk to you."

I relax a little bit, and put my hands down. I turn my head to look for a place to sit down. I spot the couch that's sitting in the middle of the apartment, and he follows after me. He sits down next to me, and says, "I do want to get this straight. How good is your Gujarati? I'm really curious." He asks the last two sentences in my mother tongue, Gujarati.

With confidence, I say, "I like to think that it's pretty good. Mason made me learn it so that I didn't lose sight of my mother tongue. He also made me learn Hindi," in the best Gujarati that I can manage.

He gives me a slight smile, and says, "That's some pretty good Gujarati! I'm impressed! At least Mason did something right."

My face falls at the sarcastic remark. Usually, I'd snap back and refute a sarcastic remark like this, but I'm way too tired to do so. I feel so drained, both physically and emotionally, that I can't think of anything witty to say.

Arjun notices my slight discomfort, and tries to break the ice. "Do you want some water or something? Dinner is going to be ready in a little bit. The aloo is still cooking, but it won't take long."

My mouth waters at the thought of aloo. It's one of my favorite dishes, and also one of the few things in which it's really hard to screw up. "Yeah, water sounds nice," I say, and he gets up to go get a glass of water from the kitchen. As I hear the water filling up the glass, I start to settle back into the couch and relax. Maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all.

Arjun hands me the glass of water, which I thank him for, and he sits back down. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you here? From my experience with other people, they don't change their minds easily. What happened? Is everything okay?"

I bite my lip a little bit to fight back the tears that are forming in my eyes. I set the glass down on the table, and say, "I found out about the affair my mom had with Mason. I just couldn't look at Mason after that, but I realized that you were fully justified to leave her. So I came to talk to you and see your point of view on things. You were right, Arjun. I definitely shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

He gives me a sheepish, yet reassuring smile, which only causes more tears to form in my eyes. Arjun notices this, and scoots in closer to me. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry. I hate seeing people cry," he says, and he wipes a tear that fell with his thumb.